Lightning in a Bottle: A festival of music, art and urban homesteading

Memorial Day weekend festival seeks to combine music, arts and green living into 'a sustainable dreamscape.'

GREEN PARTY: The scene at the festival in 2008. (Photo: Aaron Gautschi)

Call it Coachella for the greener, artsier crowd — or a cooler Burning Man with an eco-twist. The fifth annual Lightning in a Bottle Music Art and Sustainability Festival — happening Memorial Day weekend at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, Calif., is going to be bigger and greener than ever, with the goal to converge music, arts and green living into “a sustainable dreamscape.”

Produced by The Do Lab — the same artsy L.A. collective that put together Lucent L’Amour — LIB will bring together thousands of guests and campers to a lush, natural setting for three days and four nights to hear musical acts, see art installations and learn about urban homesteading! The lineup of workshops will teach people everything from container gardening to growing mushrooms to raising urban chickens to brewing beer.

Eco-friendly lessons won’t be limited to the workshops. Take your own reusable bottle and enjoy free filtered water instead of forking over money for the overpriced plastic-wrapped stuff. Nosh on organic food using compostable plates and cutlery. Look around, and you’ll notice the stages make use of recycled materials — and that the event is run partly on biodiesel and solar power.

Of course, many LIBers go mainly for the musical acts. This year, Booka Shade, The Album Leaf, Adam Freeland, and many more artists will perform on three stages. LIBers will also be treated to live performances by various dance troupes including Lucent Dossier, Vau de Vire Society, and others. Plus, attendees can become not just watchers but participants by joining the many yoga, dance, Qi Gong, and meditation classes.

LIB will also bring another rendition of the Lightning in a Paintcan Project, when local artists use reclaimed old house paints to create live murals, sold in a silent auction to benefit music and art programs at underfunded L.A.-area schools. Many more art installations will dot the festival grounds. Kids will even get to create their own art in an interactive children’s zone featuring art and games.

Three-day tickets to LIB are available now for $190 — but buy one soon, because prices will soon go up to $205. Can’t commit to a whole weekend? You can cross your fingers that the event doesn’t sell out, in which case some day passes may become available — but I wouldn’t count on it.